In accordance with embodiments, there are provided mechanisms and methods for portal user data access in a multi-tenant on-demand database system. These mechanisms and methods for portal user data access in a multi-tenant on-demand database system can enable embodiments to provide portal-specific user accounts to the multi-tenant on-demand database system which have reduced configuration requirements than users directly accessing the multi-tenant on-demand database system. The ability of embodiments to provide portal-specific user accounts can reduce processing requirements of the database system.